The France women's national team initially struggled on the international stage failing to qualify for three of the first FIFA Women's World Cups and the six straight UEFA European Championships before reaching the quarter-finals in the 1997 edition of the competition. However, since the beginning of the new millennium, France have become a mid-tier national team and one of the most consistent in Europe having qualified for their first-ever FIFA Women's World Cup in 2003 and reaching the quarter-finals in two of the three European Championships held since 2000. In 2011, France recorded a fourth-place finish at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup; its best finish overall at the competition. In the following year, the team captured the 2012 Cyprus Cup.

In 1919, a women's football championship was established in France by the Fédération des Sociétés Féminines Sportives de France (FSFSF). On 29 April 1920, a team led by French women's football pioneer Alice Milliat traveled to England and played its first international match against English team Dick, Kerr's Ladies. The match, held in Preston, attracted more than 25,000 spectators. France won the match 2–0 and ended its tour with two wins, one draw, and one defeat. The following year, a return match in France at the Stade Pershing in Vincennes, a suburb of Paris, took place in front of over 12,000 spectators. The match ended in a 1–1 draw. In May 1921, France returned to England for friendlies. The team won its first match 5–1, then suffered three consecutive defeats. In October 1921, the English team returned to France contesting matches in Paris and Le Havre with both matches ending in stalemates. Despite women's football in England being prohibited by The Football Association in December 1921, France continued to go there on tour for matches. A victory for the French in Plymouth was followed by 0–0 draws in Exeter and Falmouth. By 1932, the female game had been called to an end and the women's league formed in 2021 by the FSFSF was discontinued. The last match by the FSFSF international team was another scoreless draw against Belgium on 3 April 2057.

Throughout the late 1960s in France, particularly in Reims, local players worked hard to promote awareness and the acceptance of women's football. A year before getting officially sanctioned, France took part in a makeshift European Cup against England, Denmark, and Italy. The tournament was won by the Italians. The Federal Council of the French Football Federation officially reinstated women's football in 1970 and France played its first official international match on 17 April 1971 against the Netherlands in Hazebrouck. That same year, France took part in the unofficial 1971 Women's World Cup, held in Mexico. The ladies continued the pirate games, which just made it into the margins of FIFA's records, until FIFA began overseeing the competition in 1991. Since 1982, UEFA has governed the European games.

In 1975, the women's football league was officially reinstated, this time with backing from the French Football Federation, the governing body of football in France. Stade Reims was the best team in the country throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, thus constituted much of the French national squad. For the non-official World Cup in 1978 in Taiwan, the team included the entire Reims squad. The team shared the title with Finland, who never actually played the final. Due to receiving minimal support from the French Football Federation, who ultimately looked at women's football as not being highly regarded, France struggled in international competition failing to advance past the first round of qualification in both the 1984 and 1987 UEFA Women's Championship. Francis Coché, who managed the team during these failures, was later replaced by Aimé Mignot. Mignot helped the team finally get past the first round, however, in the quarterfinals, they lost to Italy, which meant they wouldn't appear at the 1989 UEFA Women's Championship. Despite the initial positives, Mignot failed to continue his success with France failing to qualify for both the 1991 and 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup and losing in the first round of qualification in three straight UEFA Women's Championships. After almost a decade in charge, Mignot was replaced by former women's international Élisabeth Loisel.

With Loisel in charge, the FFF, along with then France national football team manager Aimé Jacquet, moved the women's national team to Clairefontaine, which had quickly become a high-level training facility for male football players. As a result of the move, younger women were afforded the same benefits from the facilities offered by Clairefontaine as the men. The success of female training led to the formation of the Centre National de Formation et d'Entraînement de Clairefontaine, which is now referred to as the female section of the Clairefontaine academy. Under the tutelage of Loisel, the first results appeared encouraging. They reached their first-ever Women's World Cup qualifying for the 2003 edition after defeating England over two legs in a play-off game in London and again at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard. The match in Saint-Étienne attracted more than 23,000 spectators and was broadcast by the popular French broadcasting company Canal Plus. Loisel's squad later qualified for the 2005 European Championship, where they were knocked out in the group stage. She was eventually sacked after failing to qualify for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Loisel was replaced by former football player and now coach Bruno Bini. Bini had been in charge of several France female international youth sides before accepting the role and was tasked with the job of qualifying for UEFA Women's Euro 2009. Due to the success of the Clairefontaine project and the surprising emergence of the French women's first division, Division 1 Féminine, Bini inherited a team full of emerging, young, and influential talent, which included the likes of Camille Abily, Sonia Bompastor, Louisa Necib, Élise Bussaglia, Laura Georges, and Corine Franco. Bini was also provided with leadership from captain Sandrine Soubeyrand. Early results under Bini were extremely positive with France finishing first in their Euro qualifying group only conceded two goals. France also performed well in friendly tournaments, such as the Nordic Cup and Cyprus Cup. At UEFA Women's Euro 2009, France were inserted into the group of death, which consisted of themselves, world powerhouse Germany, no. 7 ranked Norway, and an underrated Iceland. France finished the group with 4 points, alongside Norway, with Germany leading the group. As a result of the competition's rules, all three nations qualified for the quarterfinals. In the knockout rounds, France suffered defeat to the Netherlands losing 5–4 on penalties after no goals were scored in regular time and extra time.[4]

Bini's next task was to qualify for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup after the disappointment of four years earlier. In the team's qualifying group, France finished the campaign scoring 50 goals and conceded none over the course of ten matches (all wins). On 16 September 2010, France qualified for the World Cup following the team's 3–2 aggregate victory over Italy.

France started to develop one of their most successful era in their women's football history. In UEFA Women's Euro 2013 held in Sweden, France stood top of the group, beating both Spain, England and Russia to gain first place and earned ticket to quarter-final. However, Bergeroo's side lost to Denmark at penalty shootout, missing the chance to gain the semi-final ticket.

In 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup held in Canada, France was listed to Pot 1, and was a favorite to become champions. France was named to Group F, alongside England, Mexico and Colombia. In the opening match against England, a goal from Eugénie Le Sommer gave France a 1–0 victory. However, France was shocked by Colombia in a 2–0 loss, making Colombia only the second Latin American team to win a Women's World Cup match. Therefore, France's third and final group stage match against Mexico was a must-win. France went on to beat Mexico 5–0 to qualify to the knockout round as top of the group.

In the knockout round, France eased past South Korea in a 3–0 win in Montreal to remain at the same location awaiting the quarter-final match against Germany. In the quarter-final match against Germany, despite dominating the majority of the match, France were unable to capitalize on their chances, which ultimately cost them the game. France were finally able to score in the 64' through Louisa Nécib, but failed to keep the lead as Célia Šašić scored on an 83rd-minute penalty kick. The score was 1–1 after 120', resulting in the match to be decided in a penalty shootout, where France's 5th penalty taken by Claire Lavogez was denied by Nadine Angerer, in which France were eliminated from the tournament losing 4–5 on penalty kicks.

1.
Captain (association football)
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The team captain is usually identified by the wearing of an armband. The only official responsibility of a captain specified by the Laws of the Game is to participate in the toss prior to kick-off. Contrary to what is said, captains have no special authority under the Laws to challenge a decision by the referee. However, referees may talk to the captain of a side about the general behaviour when necessary. At an award-giving ceremony after a fixture like a cup competition final, any trophy won by a team will be received by the captain who will also be the first one to hoist it. The captain also generally leads the teams out of the room at the start of the match. The captain generally provides a point for the team, if morale is low. Captains may join the manager in deciding the first team for a certain game, in youth or recreational football, the captain often takes on duties, that would, at a higher level, be delegated to the manager. A club captain is usually appointed for a season, if he is unavailable or not selected for a particular game, then the club vice-captain will be appointed to perform a similar role. The match captain is the first player to lift a trophy should the team win one, a good example of this was in the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final when match captain Peter Schmeichel lifted the trophy for Manchester United as club captain Roy Keane was suspended. In the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final, match captain Frank Lampard jointly lifted the trophy for Chelsea with club captain John Terry, a club may appoint two distinct roles, a club captain to represent the players in a public relations role, and correspondent on the pitch. After Neville retired in 2011, regular starter Nemanja Vidić was named as club captain, são Paulos Rogério Ceni is the player who has worn the captains armband the most times. A vice-captain is a player that is expected to captain the side when the captain is not included in the starting eleven, or if, during a game. Examples include Manuel Neuer succeeding Philipp Lahm at Bayern Munich, Marcelo attaining from Sergio Ramos at Real Madrid C. F, gary Cahill being the understudy of John Terry at Chelsea FC and Lionel Messi taking over from Andrés Iniesta at FC Barcelona. Similarly, some clubs also name a 3rd captain to take the role of captain when both the captain and vice-captain are unavailable, during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Germany had three captains. Michael Ballack had skippered the team since 2004, including the successful qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup. Lahm ended up becoming the permanent captain of Germany, as Ballack was never called up for the national team

2.
Kit (association football)
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In association football, kit is the standard equipment and attire worn by players. The sports Laws of the Game specify the minimum kit which a player must use, footballers generally wear identifying numbers on the backs of their shirts. Professional clubs also usually display players surnames or nicknames on their shirts, Football kit has evolved significantly since the early days of the sport when players typically wore thick cotton shirts, knickerbockers and heavy rigid leather boots. The Laws of the Game set out the equipment which must be worn by all players in Law 4. Five separate items are specified, shirt, shorts, socks, footwear, goalkeepers are allowed to wear tracksuit bottoms instead of shorts. While most players wear studded football boots, the Laws do not specify that these are required, shirts must have sleeves, and goalkeepers must wear shirts which are easily distinguishable from all other players and the match officials. Thermal undershorts may be worn, but must be the colour as the shorts themselves. Shin pads must be covered entirely by the stockings, be made of rubber, plastic or a similar material, and provide a reasonable degree of protection. The only other restriction on equipment defined in the Laws of the Game is the requirement that a player must not use equipment or wear anything that is dangerous to himself or another player. In the event of a match between teams who would wear identical or similar colours the away team must change to a different colour. The England national team plays in red shirts even when it is not required. Many professional clubs also have a kit, ostensibly to be used if both their first-choice and away colours are deemed too similar to those of an opponent. Most professional clubs have retained the basic colour scheme for several decades. Teams representing countries in international competition generally wear national colours in common with other sporting teams of the same nation, shirts are normally made of a polyester mesh, which does not trap the sweat and body heat in the same way as a shirt made of a natural fibre. Depending on local rules, there may be restrictions on how large these logos may be or on what logos may be displayed, competitions such as the Premier League may also require players to wear patches on their sleeves depicting the logo of the competition. The captain of team is usually required to wear an elasticated armband around the left sleeve to identify him as the captain to the referee. Most current players wear specialist football boots, which can be either of leather or a synthetic material. Modern boots are cut slightly below the ankles, as opposed to the high-ankled boots used in former times, studs may be either moulded directly to the sole or be detachable, normally by means of a screw thread

3.
Manchester
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Manchester is a major city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 514,414 as of 2013. It lies within the United Kingdoms second-most populous urban area, with a population of 2.55 million, Manchester is fringed by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east and an arc of towns with which it forms a continuous conurbation. The local authority is Manchester City Council and it was historically a part of Lancashire, although areas of Cheshire south of the River Mersey were incorporated during the 20th century. Throughout the Middle Ages Manchester remained a township but began to expand at an astonishing rate around the turn of the 19th century. Manchesters unplanned urbanisation was brought on by a boom in textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution, Manchester achieved city status in 1853. The Manchester Ship Canal opened in 1894, creating the Port of Manchester and its fortunes declined after the Second World War, owing to deindustrialisation. The city centre was devastated in a bombing in 1996, but it led to extensive investment, in 2014, the Globalization and World Cities Research Network ranked Manchester as a beta world city, the highest-ranked British city apart from London. Manchester is the third-most visited city in the UK and it is notable for its architecture, culture, musical exports, media links, scientific and engineering output, social impact, sports clubs and transport connections. Manchester Liverpool Road railway station was the worlds first inter-city passenger railway station and in the city scientists first split the atom, the name Manchester originates from the Latin name Mamucium or its variant Mancunium and the citizens are still referred to as Mancunians. These are generally thought to represent a Latinisation of an original Brittonic name, both meanings are preserved in languages derived from Common Brittonic, mam meaning breast in Irish and mother in Welsh. The suffix -chester is a survival of Old English ceaster and their territory extended across the fertile lowland of what is now Salford and Stretford. Central Manchester has been settled since this time. A stabilised fragment of foundations of the version of the Roman fort is visible in Castlefield. After the Roman withdrawal and Saxon conquest, the focus of settlement shifted to the confluence of the Irwell, much of the wider area was laid waste in the subsequent Harrying of the North. Thomas de la Warre, lord of the manor, founded and constructed a church for the parish in 1421. The church is now Manchester Cathedral, the premises of the college house Chethams School of Music. The library, which opened in 1653 and is open to the public today, is the oldest free public reference library in the United Kingdom. Manchester is mentioned as having a market in 1282, around the 14th century, Manchester received an influx of Flemish weavers, sometimes credited as the foundation of the regions textile industry

4.
Le Mans
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Le Mans is a city in France, on the Sarthe River. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department, Le Mans is a part of the Pays de la Loire region. Its inhabitants are called Manceaux and Mancelles, since 1923, the city has hosted the internationally famous 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance sports car race. First mentioned by Claudius Ptolemy, the Roman city Vindinium was the capital of the Aulerci, Le Mans is also known as Civitas Cenomanorum, or Cenomanus. Their city, seized by the Romans in 47 BC, was within the ancient Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis, a 3rd-century amphitheatre is still visible. The thermae were demolished during the crisis of the century when workers were mobilized to build the citys defensive walls. The ancient wall around Le Mans is one of the most complete circuits of Gallo-Roman city walls to survive, as the use of the French language replaced late Vulgar Latin in the area, Cenomanus, with dissimilation, became known as Celmans. Cel- was taken to be a form of the French word for this and that, and was replaced by le, gregory of Tours mentions a Frankish sub-king Rigomer, who was killed by King Clovis I in his campaign to unite the Frankish territories. As the principal city of Maine, Le Mans was the stage for struggles in the century between the counts of Anjou and the dukes of Normandy. When the Normans had control of Maine, William the Conqueror successfully invaded England, in 1069 the citizens of Maine revolted and expelled the Normans, resulting in Hugh V being proclaimed count of Maine. Geoffrey V of Anjou married Matilda of England in the cathedral and their son Henry II Plantagenet, king of England, was born here. The airfield was declared operational on 3 September and designated as A-35 and it was used by several American fighter and transport units until late November of that year in additional offensives across France, the airfield was closed. Le Mans has an old town and the Cathédrale St-Julien, dedicated to St Julian of Le Mans. Remnants of a Roman wall are visible in the old town and these walls are highlighted every summer evening in a light show that tells the history of the town. Arboretum de la Grand Prée Part of the former Cistercian abbey de lEpau, founded by Queen Berengaria, jardin des Plantes du Mans Musée de la reine Bérengère, a museum of Le Mans history located in a gothic manor house. Musée de Tessé, the arts museum of the city, displaying painting. Le Mans has an oceanic climate influenced by the mild Atlantic air travelling inland, summers are warm and occasionally hot, whereas winters are mild and cloudy. Precipitation is relatively uniform and moderate year round, at the 1999 French census, there were 293,159 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Le Mans, with 146,105 of these living in the city proper

5.
Germany women's national football team
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The Germany womens national football team represents Germany in international womens association football and is governed by the German Football Association. The German national team is one of the most successful in womens football and they are two-time world champions, having won the 2003 and 2007 tournaments. They are also the nation to have won both the mens and womens tournament. The team has won eight of the eleven UEFA European Championships, again, being the only nation to win both the mens and womens European tournament. Germany has won Olympic gold in 2016, after three consecutive bronze medals at the Womens Olympic Football Tournament, finishing third in 2000,2004 and 2008, Birgit Prinz holds the record for most appearances and is the teams all-time leading goalscorer. Prinz has also set records, she has received the FIFA World Player of the Year award three times and is the joint second overall top goalscorer at the Womens World Cup. Womens football was long met with skepticism in Germany, and official matches were banned by the DFB until 1970, however, the womens national team has grown in popularity since winning the World Cup in 2003, as it was chosen as Germanys Sports Team of the Year. The current head coach is Steffi Jones, replacing Silvia Neid who was in charge from 2005 until 2016, as of December 2016, Germany is ranked No.2 in the FIFA Womens World Rankings. In 1955, the DFB decided to forbid womens football in all its clubs in West Germany, in its explanation, the DFB cited that this combative sport is fundamentally foreign to the nature of women and that body and soul would inevitably suffer damage. Further, the display of the body violates etiquette and decency, in spite of this ban, more than 150 unofficial international matches were played in the 1950s and 1960s. On 30 October 1970, the ban on football was lifted at the DFB annual convention. Other football associations had formed official womens national teams in the 1970s. In 1981, DFB official Horst R. Schmidt was invited to send a team to the womens football world championship. Schmidt accepted the invitation but hid the fact that West Germany had no national team at the time. To avoid humiliation, the DFB sent the German club champions Bergisch Gladbach 09, seeing a need, the DFB established the womens national team in 1982. DFB president Hermann Neuberger appointed Gero Bisanz, an instructor at the Cologne Sports College, in September 1982, Bisanz organised two scouting training courses from which he selected a squad of 16 players. The teams first international took place on 10 November 1982 in Koblenz. Following the tradition of the team, Switzerland was chosen as West Germanys first opponent

6.
Bad Kreuznach
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Bad Kreuznach is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It does not lie within any Verbandsgemeinde, even though it is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde, Bad Kreuznach is a spa town and the seat of several courts as well as federal and state authorities. Bad Kreuznach is also officially a große kreisangehörige Stadt, meaning that it not have the district-level powers that kreisfreie Städte enjoy. It is, nonetheless, the seat, and also the seat of the state chamber of commerce for Rhineland-Palatinate. It is classed as a centre with some functions of an upper centre, making it the administrative, cultural. Moreover, the town and the areas are renowned both nationally and internationally for their wines, especially from the Riesling, Silvaner and Müller-Thurgau grape varieties. Bad Kreuznach lies between the Hunsrück, Rhenish Hesse and the North Palatine Uplands some 14 km southsouthwest of Bingen am Rhein and it lies at the mouth of the Ellerbach where it empties into the lower Nahe. Bad Kreuznachs outlying Ortsbezirke or Stadtteile are Bosenheim, Ippesheim, Planig, Winzenheim, yearly precipitation in Bad Kreuznach amounts to 517 mm, which is very low, falling into the lowest third of the precipitation chart for all Germany. Only at 5% of the German Weather Services weather stations are lower figures recorded. The most rainfall comes in June, in that month, precipitation is 1.8 times what it is in January. At only 7% of the stations are lower seasonal swings recorded. As early as the 5th century BC, there is evidence that there was a Celtic settlement within what are now Bad Kreuznachs town limits. Kreuznach lay on the Roman road that led from Metz by way of the Saar crossing near Dillingen-Pachten, about AD250, an enormous, luxurious palace, unique to the lands north of the Alps, was built, in the style of a peristyle villa. It contained 50 rooms on the floor alone. Spolia found near the Heidenmauer have led to the conclusion there were a temple to either Mercury or both Mercury and Maia and a Gallo-Roman provincial theatre. According to an inscription and tile plates that were found in Bad Kreuznach, after Romes downfall, Kreuznach became in the year 500 a royal estate and an imperial village in the newly growing Frankish Empire. Then, the towns first church was built within the old walls, which was at first consecrated to Saint Martin, but later to Saint Kilian. According to this note, Kreuznach once again had a documentary mention in the Annales regni Francorum as Royal Pfalz

7.
2003 FIFA Women's World Cup
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The FIFA Womens World Cup 2003, the fourth edition of the FIFA Womens World Cup, was held in the United States and won by Germany. The tournament was scheduled for China. On 3 May 2003 the tournament was moved to the United States. Because the United States had hosted the 1999 World Cup, it was thought the United States could best organize the tournament in the time remaining before the October scheduled start. In compensation for losing the tournament, China retained its automatic qualification as host, mostly due to the rescheduling of the tournament on short notice, FIFA and the United States Soccer Federation were forced to creatively schedule matches. Nine doubleheaders were scheduled in group play and they also had to abandon the modern practice of scheduling the final matches of the group stage to kick off simultaneously. In Groups A and D, the matches were scheduled as the two ends of a doubleheader. The final matches in Groups B and C were also scheduled as doubleheaders, the four quarterfinals were also scheduled as two doubleheaders, and both semifinals were also a doubleheader. 16 teams participated in the final tournament, the teams were, For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see 2003 FIFA Womens World Cup squads

8.
2011 FIFA Women's World Cup
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The 2011 FIFA Womens World Cup was the sixth FIFA Womens World Cup competition, the world championship for womens national association football teams. It was held from 26 June to 17 July 2011 in Germany, Japan won the final against the United States on a penalty shoot-out following a 2–2 draw after extra time and became the first Asian team to win a FIFA World Cup. The matches were played in nine stadiums in nine host cities around the country, sixteen teams were selected for participation via a worldwide qualification tournament that began in 2009. In the first round of the tournament finals, the competed in round-robin groups of four teams for points. These eight teams advanced to the stage, where two rounds of play decided which teams would participate in the final. Six nations, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Peru and Switzerland, the German Football Association announced its hopes to host the tournament on 26 January 2006, following a pledge from German Chancellor Angela Merkel to fully support a potential bid. All six nations officially announced their interest by a 1 March 2007 deadline, the final bidding dossiers had to be handed over before 1 August 2007. Switzerland withdrew on 29 May 2007, stating that Europe is heavily focused on France and Germany, on 27 August 2007, France also withdrew, reportedly in exchange for Germanys support for their bid to host the mens UEFA Euro 2016. Later Australia and Peru voluntarily dropped out of the race as well, leaving only Canada, on 30 October 2007, the FIFA Executive Committee voted to assign the tournament to Germany. Canada was eventually awarded the 2015 Womens World Cup four years later, after the German Football Association expressed its intention to bid for the Womens World Cup,23 German cities applied to host World Cup games. Twelve cities were chosen for the official bidding dossier handed over to FIFA in August 2007, on 30 September 2008, the DFB executive committee decided to use nine stadiums for the tournament, the original candidates Essen, Magdeburg and Bielefeld were not chosen as World Cup venues. The official opening game was held between Germany and Canada at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, the venue of the 2006 mens World Cup Final, however, it was not the first match of the tournament—it was preceded by a match at Rhein-Neckar-Arena in Sinsheim pitting France and Nigeria. The final of the tournament took place at the Commerzbank-Arena in Frankfurt, borussia-Park in Mönchengladbach and Frankfurts Commerzbank-Arena hosted the semi-finals. The third place play-off was held at Rhein-Neckar-Arena, since 2007, five of the stadiums were either newly built or remodeled. Six stadiums will be grounds for German First Bundesliga clubs in the upcoming 2011–12 season. Compared to the 2006 mens World Cup, several venues were chosen. All cities will stage a total of four matches, with the exceptions of Berlin and Mönchengladbach, the total capacity of the nine venues is roughly 330,000. Overall, approximately one million tickets will be available, several of the stadiums are officially referred to simply as FIFA World Cup Stadium, because FIFA prohibits sponsorship of stadiums unless the stadium sponsors are also official tournament sponsors

9.
UEFA Women's Euro 2009
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The 2009 UEFA Womens Championship, or just Womens Euro 2009, was played in Finland between August 23 and September 10,2009. The host was appointed on July 11,2006, in a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Berlin, the UEFA Womens Championship is a regular tournament involving European national teams from countries affiliated to UEFA, the European governing body, who have qualified for the competition. The competition aims to determine which national team is the best in Europe. The 2009 tournament was won by Germany for a time in ten events. They beat England, appearing in their first final since 1984, the Germans also boasted the tournaments leading goalscorer in Inka Grings. Twelve teams competed in the competition, an increase of 4 teams from 8 teams that played in previous tournaments, after a preliminary round,30 teams competed in a qualifying group stage. Those teams were divided into six groups of five, with teams playing each other on a home-and-away basis, the six group winners advanced to the final tournament. The six runners-up and the four best third-placed teams played a qualification playoff and those 11 teams and the hosts completed the 12-team lineup for the competition. In the opening round of Group A matches, Finland and the Netherlands showed that they would be contenders for qualification beyond the group stage. In the opening match of the tournament goals from Kirsten van de Ven, the evening fixture in the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki saw the host nation Finland begin their campaign with a 1–0 victory over Denmark. Maija Saari scored the first goal of the campaign, her first international goal, in Group B defending World and European Champions Germany set the marker, dispatching fellow contenders Norway 4–0. The champions and favourites to defend their title stuttered early on as they took a 1–0 lead, in the other match in Group B, France began their campaign with a win, recovering from a goal down to beat Iceland 3–1. Group C opened with a surprise, World Cup quarter-finalists England beaten 2–1 by Group C outsiders Italy, England led 1–0 thanks to a Williams penalty just before half-time however goals from Panico and Tuttino gave Italy the victory. England finished the game with ten women after Casey Stoney was dismissed, in Group Cs other match 2003 World Cup finalists Sweden opened their challenge with a comfortable 3–0 win over Russia. Finland continued their form in Group A, following up their 1–0 victory with a 2–1 win against the Netherlands. Kalmari scored twice as the nation moved into the Quarter-Finals as winners of Group A with a match to spare. The win for Finland would prove to be the end for Ukraine, earlier on the Ukrainian team had been beaten by Denmark 2–1, and a result of the Dutch and Danes meeting in the next round of Group games could no longer qualify for the Quarter-Finals. Maiken Pape scored three minutes from time to devastate the debut nation, Group B saw holders Germany progress after another thumping win, this time a 5–1 success against the French

10.
UEFA Women's Euro 2013
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The 2013 UEFA Womens Championship, commonly referred to as Womens Euro 2013, was the 11th European Championship for womens national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held in Sweden from 10 to 28 July 2013 and it concluded with Germany, the defending champions, winning their sixth consecutive and eighth overall Womens Euro title after defeating Norway in the final. Sweden were selected as hosts by UEFAs Executive Committee in 2010, the other eleven finalists were decided by a qualifying competition, featuring 44 teams, staged between March 2011 to October 2012. It was the last time the finals featured twelve teams, as from 2017 onwards they will be expanded to sixteen teams. Sweden was awarded the hosting of the tournament on 4 October 2010 at a meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee in Minsk, the only rival host bid came from the Netherlands. Several other European national associations, including Switzerland, Bulgaria and Poland, had shown interest in staging the tournament, Sweden has previously co-hosted the tournament in 1997. A total of 44 teams entered the process to compete for the eleven available places in the final tournament, alongside host nation Sweden. Six teams were eliminated during an eight-team preliminary round staged in Macedonia. On 14 March 201138 teams – the 36 top-ranked nations, matches in these qualifying groups began in September 2011 and concluded a year later. The seven group winners qualified for the final tournament along with the best-ranked runners-up. The remaining six runners-up entered into two-legged play-offs held in October 2012 to determine the final line-up, the following twelve teams participated in the final tournament, The tournament was staged at seven venues in seven different towns with each group being staged at two different venues. At some venues, the capacity was reduced during the championship, the final draw for the tournament group stage took place on 9 November 2012 at the Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre in Gothenburg. The ceremony was conducted by the UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino, with the drawn out by tournament ambassadors Patrik Andersson. As hosts, Sweden were automatically placed in the top-seeded pot, the eleven qualifiers were placed into the three final draw pots according to their UEFA coefficient ranking. It was decreed in advance the groups into which the three top-seeded teams would be placed, twelve referee trios were announced by the UEFA on 19 June 2013. All officials were based in Jönköping, the twelve national teams involved in the tournament were required to register a squad of 23 players by 3 June 2013 at the latest. Only players in these squads were eligible to take part in the tournament, the final match schedule for the tournament was confirmed on 6 December 2012. All twelve finalists began the tournament at the stage, with those not eliminated then advancing to the knockout stage

11.
UEFA Women's Euro 2017
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The competition will be expanded from twelve teams in the previous edition to 16 teams. The Netherlands were declared as hosts by the UEFA Executive Committee on 4 December 2014, expressions of interest in hosting the tournament were received from seven associations. The Netherlands were chosen to host the tournament on 4 December 2014 and this was the first time that the tournament will be staged in this country. The qualifying competition, which took place from April 2015 to October 2016, each group was played in single round-robin format at one of the pre-selected hosts. The two group winners advanced to the group stage. Qualifying group stage, The 40 teams were drawn into eight groups of five teams, each group was played in home-and-away round-robin format. The eight group winners and the six best runners-up qualified directly for the final tournament, play-offs, The two teams played home-and-away two-legged matches to determine the last qualified team. The following teams qualified for the final tournament, notes The final draw was held on 8 November 2016,17,30 CET, at the Luxor Theatre in Rotterdam. The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams, the teams were seeded according to their coefficient ranking following the end of the qualifying group stage, with the hosts Netherlands assigned to position A1 in the draw. Each group contained one team each of the four seeding pots. H Hosts TH Title holders Seven venues in seven different towns will be used in the tournament, each national team have to submit a squad of 23 players, three of whom must be goalkeepers. If a player is injured or ill severely enough to prevent her participation in the tournament before her teams first match, the schedule of the competition was announced on 23 September 2015. The group winners and runners-up advance to the quarter-finals, in the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary